Saturday, August 06, 2011

The People of Victoria (Parody of Gibran)

The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on ...


So spoke Fitzgerald's Persian bard,
And the people of Victoria heard him and sighed,
And thought unto themselves “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,”
And turned again to contemplate, now sad, their ­railway timetables.

Alan Jacobs, First Things, November 2007

Monday, July 11, 2011

We are Always Resolving to Live

"'We are always resolving to live, and yet never set about life in good earnest.' Archimedes was not singular in his fate; but a great part of mankind die unexpectedly, while they are poring upon the figures they have described in the sand."
Robert Leighton (1611-1684), quot in S.T. Coleridge, Aids to Reflection (1825)

Sunday, July 03, 2011

The Port to Which He is Bound

"But to him that knoweth not the port to which he is bound, no wind can be favourable; neither can he who has not yet determined at what mark he is to shoot, direct his arrow aright."
Robert Leighton (1611-1684), quot in S.T. Coleridge, Aids to Reflection (1825)

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Divide in Order to Distinguish

"It is a dull and obtuse mind, that must divide in order to distinguish; but it is a still worse, that distinguishes in order to divide. In the former, we may contemplate the source of superstition and idolatry; in the latter, of schism, heresy, and a seditious and sectarian spirit."
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aids to Reflection aphorism XXVI

Monday, March 21, 2011

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Outsiders in Their Own Lives

Learning the language of a country, one does not cease to be an outsider. One simply becomes a different sort of outsider. Some people are outsiders to their own lives.
N.N. Scott

Saturday, March 05, 2011

A Struggle for Power

Societies begin and grow in many ways but they only end in one: a struggle for power.
N.N. Scott

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Friday, February 11, 2011

The Value of Things

Most people are shallow; they have no idea how to value things. If they get something for a low price, they will not value it even if it is something worthy of care. Therefore do not undervalue yourself, in your own eyes or the eyes of others. The world will not reward you for it.
N.N. Scott

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Teaching the Faith

Anyone who sincerely, passionately believes in something, whose face is lit up with it so that others notice and react whether they wish to or not, is teaching his faith -- whatever that faith is -- and will suffer the consequences.
N.N. Scott

The Two Responsibilities

To feel distress at one's own inadequacy, and endeavor to do something about it, is a form of knowing and worshiping the Creator, which are the only two responsibilities of a human being.
N.N. Scott

Bearing the Load

Those who care about their work, and make every effort to do it well, usually bear the load of at least one or two, and sometimes a great many others, who do not.
N.N. Scott

A Supplication for Foriveness

To feel distress over one's inadequacy, without taking some kind of action to make up the deficiency, accomplishes no more than a supplication for forgiveness addressed to a nonentity.
N.N. Scott

What Work We are Doing

Most of us would agree that it is better to do our work well, than poorly -- but most of us actually know little about what work we are actually doing.
N.N. Scott

The Contented

The contented are most often ignorant of their incapacity.
N.N. Scott